Corus has announced the availability of production-ready coils of Dual- Phase 600 Hot Rolled Steel (DP600HR). This latest dual-phase steel product has been designed to help carmakers meet emissions targets by reducing vehicle weight. Crucially, the new hot-rolled product will allow customers to benefi t from the material’s enhanced properties for a larger number of automotive applications.
Existing dual-phase cold-rolled steels offer carmakers weight reduction benefi ts via the ability to down gauge, or reduce the thicknesses of the steel sheet used in a given application. However, cold- rolled products can only be used for vehicle applications with a gauge range of between 0.6mm – 2mm.
Importantly, Corus’ new hot-rolled product now allows automotive customers to benefi t from dual-phase steel properties for applications that require a thicker gauge above 2mm. According to Corus, trials of the hotrolled dual-phase steel have already proven that it can help reduce weight in sub-frame applications, including lower and upper control arms and wheel centres, where these applications require improved durability and strength and therefore thicker material gauge.
The improved material properties of dual-phase steels, such as better fatigue durability and tensile strength, allow automotive designers to use less material but at equivalent performance. This results in typical weight savings of up to 20%, dependent on application use.
